Yesterday was quite the day. Our first flight was suppose to be from London City Airport to Edinburgh, then to Washington DC then to DFW. We got up early and left for the airport (on the opposite side of London) at 6:15am. We get to the airport to find out the first flight was canceled. No problem, they put on on an earlier flight. We get to the gate and they tell us the flight is over weight (it was a propeller plane) so we do not get on that flight. Get our checked bags back and head to the check-in desk. They put us on another United flight,  but it leaves from Heathrow on the other side of town! So they paid for a cab to take us. It took over two hours cause they do not have freeways so we had to drive on regular streets right through the heart of London. This drive also made me glad I did not have to drive in London. There are just so many unique things they do, not to mention being on the wrong side of the road.

Well, because we took so long, we missed that United flight. United said they did not have anything until maybe the next day. So we went to the Flybe airline desk (they were the airline that canceled our flight). They kept looking and looking, made a phone call and got us on a direct to DFW American flight. Oh, and it was in BUSINESS CLASS which are little pods with lay flat seats!

Oh, it was at a different terminal so we had to hike to that with all of our luggage. After getting checked in with American, the agent said we could go to the Admiral Club and wait for our flight. (because we were in business class). It was awesome. We were able to eat a full meal in there since it was now around 2:00pm and we had not eaten since before 6:15am. Then we went to our flight to enjoy the awesome seats.

 

It was as enjoyable as a flight could be. We were fed like kings. I ended up not sleeping at all. Really never wanted to and I thought it would help with the jet lag to just wait.

After landing, we took a shuttle to terminal C where we parked the car. If you have ever seen the Seinfeld episode where they cannot find their car in the parking garage, that was us. For around 30 minutes in the heat and humidity and hauling our luggage, we searched and searched for our car. Finally, we realized we had departed and parked at Terminal E. So back to the shuttle and straight to the car. I felt stupid.

We then went to a hotel and spent the night. I slept well. Up this morning and drove back to Amarillo.

This was not a relaxing vacation. Every day was pretty tiring and some were downright exhausting. We may never go back to London so we knew we had to see everything we wanted to see and knew that would take lots of energy. We were happy to do it. It was a good trip and we are blessed we were able to go. London is a cool city to visit and we enjoyed meeting many Brits.

Until next time.

We started our last day in London going to the Tower of London…

Got to see the crown jewels…

And the armory…

Michael finally got to see a guard somewhat up close…

Picture of the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London…

For lunch, we had to grab some fish and chips…

We then took a bus down to St. Paul’s Cathedral…

We climbed 500 billion steps to go to the top of the dome (then came back down those steps). Guess it was worth it for the views…

There was a small viewing window down to the floor from the top of the inner dome. It is the very small square at the top in this pic…

We then went to our final place to visit, the HMS Belfast…

Stephen had to take a timeout in the brig…

That concluded our time in central London so we grabbed two more pics. This is the Tower Bridge…

And this London Bridge. For all you Yanks who think the Tower Bridge is London Bridge, you are wrong. To be honest, I learned this just the other day our our Thames river cruise. It has been rebuilt several times so I guess technically it has fallen down.

Tomorrow we get up early to head to London City airport which is on the other side of London. Our first flight is from there to Edinburgh Scotland. Then to Washington DC, then to DFW where we will spend the night before driving home.

Started the day by realizing my phone did not charge properly overnight. Since I am the only one with data service, it is pretty important my phone works for us to get around. Was able to get the charge to 79% before leaving.

We started the day by going to the London Zoo…

Have not been in one of these since India in 2014…

Our traditional picture of Stephen with the flamingos…

And for the Harry Potter fans, here is where Harry first talked to a snake and made the glass disappear…

My favorite animal…

We stopped at a Five Guys for lunch and really enjoyed the drink machine with all the soft drinks and ice we wanted.

These painted words found at many crosswalks in London, are VERY useful for us Americans. Figuring out which way traffic will be coming from can be right confusing.

Then we went to Kensington Palace…

After that, we stopped by Harrod’s to look around at stuff we can’t afford…

Traveling back to the VRBO, we hit rush hour on the trains. We were PACKED into this train for around 30 minutes. You have to give up the idea of personal space.

My legs and feet are hurting today more than they ever have. Of course, tomorrow might prove to be even more walking so I will just have to keep going through the pain. We finished early today so hopefully extra rest tonight will help.

Little worried we would be rained on today, but we were not. It was quite chilly though. We started the day going to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.

After a quick lunch at Victoria Station, we boarded a bus…

To go to the Warner Brother Harry Potter Studios…

Then we boarded the bus back to London…

Train back to VRBO. Today was a bit less walking so the old legs got a bit of a break. Tomorrow, I’m afraid, will be a lot of walking.

The day started going to the British Museum…

Michael in front of the Rosetta Stone…

Then we headed to the Imperial War Museum…

 

Then we decided to wait in a very long queue (line in US English) for the London Eye…

We then went by the M&M superstore then back to the VRBO where we ate some dinner. Then we headed out to do what we do on all vacations these days, an escape room. We got out…

Now back at the VRBO to get some rest for tomorrow.

This morning we took the Tube into the city center and got our first look at London…

After a couple of quick phone calls…

We stopped in to the Churchill War Rooms. This is where much of World War II was directed. Far under ground…

Then we made a quick side trip to Victoria Station to grab some lunch…

Then off to Westminster Abbey. No pictures allowed inside, but it was quite cool. Extremely old stuff. Saw some painting on walls that were over 600 years old!

We stopped for a quick picture with the tower that holds Big Ben…

Yes, it is under all that scaffolding. We then went for a boat tour down the Thames, from Westminster to Greenwich…

We then went to a local burger joint in Greenwich (no, not McDonald’s this time)…

After dinner we walked UNDER the Thames through a tunnel…

We then rode the trains back to our VRBO, extremely tired. I think we are still dealing with a bit of jet lag. Hopefully tomorrow we will be fully adjusted.

Our first flight (DFW to Houston) did not leave until 5:30 so we stayed at our hotel until checkout time of noon. We grabbed some lunch at Whataburger then headed to the airport.

We had a few hours to kill at the airport so we rode the Skylink all the way around the airport.

Then we happened upon a little lounge that no one was using and had comfy seating.

Our flight to Houston left on time and landed early, however, there was no gate for us to pull in to so we sat in the plane on the ground for around 25 minutes.

That made the connection to our London flight a little closer than expected so we went straight to the gate and waited. The flight was delayed leaving, so we ended up not eating dinner until after 9:00pm on the plane. The next nine hours were a blur of watching movies and dozing. I really did not sleep much at all. We landed at London Heathrow around 12:00 noon London time. After clearing customs and collecting our bags, we headed down to the tube. Took us 4 trains to get to our VRBO, but we made it and the place is really nice.

It was around 3:00pm and we had not eaten anything since a light breakfast on the plane so we walked down the street to a local place whose speciality is something called a Big Mac.

Then we took a bus to a supermarket and got some some groceries. Then the bus back to the VRBO.

Now, we are pretty zonked and I am thankful I did not plan anything for us to do today other than get settled in. it is 6:30pm here and I am ready to go to bed.

Tomorrow, we jump in to exploring this city!

No, no London yet. Today we packed up the car and left our little Bax…

We drove to Fort Worth and checked in to our hotel. We met our friend Caroline for dinner and had a good time catching up.

Then we hit a local escape room. It was fittingly Harry Potter themed. We escaped.

 

Our flight from DFW does not leave until tomorrow afternoon so we will hang at the hotel until noon, grab lunch then to the airport.

The Mashburns are headed out again on another epic adventure. We will be going further than ever before to visit London. This trip is bigger this year (i.e. more expensive) because it is Michael’s senior trip. We are excited to get going and will post daily here with our activities.

Here is our itinerary…

• 7/2 – Depart Amarillo for Fort Worth to spend the night
• 7/3 – Depart DFW airport for London
• 7/4 – Arrive in London and get settled in
• 7/5-7/9 – Explore London
• 7/10 – Depart London for DFW
• 7/11 – Drive back to Amarillo

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